November 6, 2024
by Carla Hay
Directed by Rohit Shetty
Hindi with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in India and in Sri Lanka, the action film “Singham Again” (a sequel to 2011’s “Singham” and 2014’s “Singham Returns”) features an all-South Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A deputy commissioner police officer battles drug dealers who kidnap and assault his wife.
Culture Audience: “Singham Again” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headlines and utterly predictable action movies with mediocre acting.
Even with the benefit of having a star-studded cast, the action film sequel “Singham Again” is quite lackluster and dull in its storytelling. It’s yet another trite, uneven and predictable story about violent fights between criminals and law enforcement. “Singham Again” is a sequel to 2011’s “Singham” and 2014’s “Singham Returns,” which were all directed by Rohit Shetty.
“Singham Again” was co-written by Shetty, Yunus Sajawal, Abhijeet Khuman, Kshitij Patwardhan, Sandeep Saket and Anusha Nandakumar. It’s usually not a good sign when a movie has at least five screenwriters because the movie willl most likely have “too many cooks in the kitchen” syndrome for the screenplay. The end results for “Singham Again” seem to prove this theory because “Singham Again” is a muddled mess of disjointed ideas and tonally off-kilter scenes that want to cram too much into the movie but almost none of it adds up to good filmmaking
The title chaacter of the “Singham” films is Bajirao Singham (played by Ajay Devgn), a deputy commissioner police (DCP) officer from Shivgarh, India. Even though these movies are not science fiction or superhero movies, the characters in these movies have unrealistically superhuman fight skills in the many ridiculous action scenes. Bajirao is an upstanding law enforcement officer who is nothing but a stereotype with no surprises.
In “Singham Again” (which takes place in India and in Sri Lanka), Bajirao is now married to Avni Kamat (played by Kareena Kapoor Khan), who was his love interest in “Singham Returns.” Bajirao and Avni (who works for the Cultural Ministry) have a son named Shaurya (played by Viren Vazirani), who’s about 16 or 17 years old. Bajirao has been transferred from Mumbai to Srinagar for three years.
There are some tensions between Bajirao and Shaurya because Shaurya wants to establish his independence, but Shaurya thinks Bajirao is overbearing. Bajirao has a reputation for being a tough cop, and his son Shaurya is embarrassed by Bajirao’s domineering tendencies. Meanwhile, Bajirao is concerned about Shaurya being rebellious and thinks Shaurya needs to be more disciplined.
Near the begining of the movie, Shaurya complains to Bajirao about how Bajirao embarrassed Shaurya because Bajirao showed up uninvited to a recent party hosted by one of Shaurya’s friends. At this party, Bajirao lectured the teenage attendees, which ruined the party atmosphere. Bajirao eventually gives an apology to Shaurya, but Bajirao will soon have more to worry about than whether or not Shaurya is annoyed with him.
Bajirao is the leader of the arrest of a major drug dealer named Omar Hafeez (played by Jackie Shroff), who is nicknamed the Chef of Lashkar. Omar has left Pakistan to set up an illegal drug import/export business from Sri Lanka to India. During the sting operation that led to Omar’s arrest, his drug-dealing sons Riyaaz and Raza were killed. And you know what that means: Omar wants revenge.
Omar is also involved in terrorism funded by the money he makes from drug dealing. Bajirao finds out that Omar is planning a terrorist attack on India. But with Omar arrested, there are other people who are willing to carry out Omar’s plan. Meanwhile, Home Minister Raj Jaishankar commissions a team called Shiva Squad, led by Bajirao, to stop Omar’s planned terrorist attack. Also on the Shiva Squad are Devika Singh (played by Shweta Tiwari) and Daya Shetty (played by Dayanand Shetty), who are loyal sidekicks.
Two years later, Bajirao leads a confiscation of drugs from another major drug dealer named Danger Lanka (played by Arjun Kapoor), a one-dimensional villain who is one cliché after another. Three of Danger Lanka’s men are arrested. Bajirao recruits DCP Shakti Shetty (played by Deepika Padukone) to take these arrestees to Mumbai. However, Danger Lanka arrives to help his men escape, and he kills some of the police officers on duty. Shakti feels extremely guilty about the deaths of these colleagues. Bajirao comforts her and assures her that it’s not her fault.
Meanwhile, Avni is presenting a theater production of “Ramlila,” to portray the journey of Lord Ram and Sita. “Singham Again” clumsily draws parallels between certain characters in this play and the characters in the movie’s story. The staging of this play is awkwardly placed in the movie.
Also getting involved in the mind-numbing battles are assistant commissioner police (ACP) officer Sangram “Simmba” Bhalerao (played by Ranveer Singh) and anti-terrorism squad official Veer Sooryavanshi (played by Akshay Kumar), who have their own agendas and rivalries with Bajirao. The spinoff films “Simmba” (2018) and “Sooryavanshi” (2021) put the focus on each of these two namesake characters. Simmba, who is Avni’s brother-in-law, is corrupt and slightly unhinged. Veer is the “cool” law enforcement officer. ACP Satya Bali (played by Tiger Shroff) is an eager character who admires Bajirao and wants to prove his worth to Bajirao
It should come as no surprise in an unimaginative movie like “Singham Again” that a loved one of the chief hero is put in danger, which motivates him to rescue the loved ones and get revenge on the criminals responsible for harming the loved one. In this substandard movie, the loved one in peril is Avni, who is kidnapped and seriously injured by Danger Lanka. You know the rest: Car chases, explosions, and fights with guns, fists and bladed weapons. All of the action scenes look very fake and have no suspense. The movie’s bombastic and loud music score just adds to the annoyance.
“Singham Again” has principal cast members who are capable of being charismatic in other movies if they have the right screenplay and direction. In “Singham Again,” the main characters have such hollow personalities, they don’t elicit much emotional connection from viewers. The cast members in these roles don’t seem to care much either, based on their formulaic performances. Although the cinematography of “Singham Again” is eye-catching, these visuals don’t mean much when the rest of the movie is so soulless and vapid.
Reliance Entertainment released “Singham Again” in U.S. cinemas and in India on November 1, 2024.
